Library Changes with Callan

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Callan Bignoli was hired as Olin’s Library Director at the end of July 2019. Since she has started she has been aiming to improve the library with student input. The library has been drastically updated because of the efforts of the library under the direction of Callan. Because of the vast changes, I sat down with her for an interview. 

Callan collected student feedback by conducting focus groups in the fall and surveys both in the fall and spring. She conducted another survey with alums of 2019. To accommodate how busy staff can be, she did several one-on-one meetings with them instead of focus groups. 

To do these surveys, Rebecca Matthews, Institute Research at Olin, was happy to help her make her survey and put them on Qualtrics. Rebecca also helped her organize the results and make reports of how people responded.

Additionally, Callan did an internal survey with the other librarians of 4-5 open ended questions related to what to prioritize and which of these  results they were surprised by.

From the data Callan had collected, she made a 9 page proposal called the Strategic Plan, which outlines the steps she plans to take to respond to the feedback she collected. It proposes a three-year plan that covers from this semester to Spring 2022

Callan says she was overwhelmed when she got here because  she didn’t know how to do what the community wanted. But she was invested in asking what people wanted instead of  just moving forward based on her preconceived notions from working at a different library. There were pretty significant changes that needed to be made, but she didn’t have an idea of where to start.

Callan really emphasized that although she could’ve guessed which actions to take first based on previous experience, it would have been dishonest and self serving.

The Action Plan has two parts. One that focuses on the first year and one that is more long term.

Within the first year, Callan has already started to move books around and will be getting new furniture for the bottom of the library. As mentioned in the email she sent out about book movements, the fiction books are now upstairs, the art books downstairs, and some books removed completely.

The longer term plan is to replace the rest of the furniture and to recarpet but that will depend on her budget being approved. Since presentations and some classes are held in the library, Callan is looking to make the seating more functional to support these activities.

Part of her desire is that the library is one of the first parts that visitors and guests see.

Callan has also put a lot of thought into the bookshelves. The bookshelves upstairs were becoming unstable and from holding at least 700 pounds of art books with heavy paper. Some students had been injured by the shelves making them no longer safe to be moved around as intended.

To combat this, books that hadn’t been checked out in 3 or more years were donated. The textbooks that were now out of date were harder to rehome so they were given to the artists in residence. Those heavy books were also moved downstairs to the static shelves and the lighter fiction books were brought up. Additionally she placed extraneous materials like CDs and some books on carts which the community was allowed to take for free. 

The biggest change to the library will actually be to the software. Callan was able to add us to the Minuteman Library system, and with that comes many perks. For example, the library software will be more stable and allow you to see what you’ve checked out, renew your own books, and do Inter Library Loans by yourself. People would also be able to check out books from the libraries in the system which contain 17 very rich libraries such as Needham and Wellesley Public Library. We will switch over on July 1st of 2020. When students come back in the fall, there will be an orientation that will help us explore the mobile app and give us access to a barcode sticker that will replace the “type-in-your-name” system we currently have. 

The Minuteman Library system also includes local tech support that will be able to help the library as it needs without hiring additional people. Without the student workers a lot of the changes would not have been possible. They helped box outgoing books and worked with Callan quite a bit. With all  the equipment the library has, like the cameras, screen printer, and sewing machines, without the student workers, it would be nearly impossible to upkeep the equipment and run trainings.

Callan has enjoyed that people are always willing and wanting to step in to help. Whether it’s idea generation, getting help making surveys, coding data, or even spray painting shelves, people have been excited to take part in improving the library.

The interview I had with Callan really showed me how willing she is to work with the community. She was excited to schedule time to talk to me and was open to answer my questions. I’m hopeful of how the library will change for the better in the next few years, and I’m happy to share that Callan cares about the Olin community and has already done so many things for us.

Horoscopes by Idiots for Idiots

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Editor’s Note: This was done in response to me needing material and my friends being memers. I would like to thank them for doing this and for helping fold the Frankly Speaking articles for the past couple of months. uwu I love you all. 

If you would like to see something different please submit materials.

Aries (Mar. 21–Apr. 19):
The stars will not stand for such yellow bellied actions

Taurus (April 20-May 20):

The stars predict tomorrow you’ll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep

source: weird “al” yankovic

Gemini (May 21–June 21): 

Take a nap, you bitch.

Cancer (June 22–July 22):
Beware of getting crabs. You just are.

Leo (July 23–Aug. 22):

Purr i cawe about my furiends rawr xD owo cawwy me purr I wuv aw of my furiends Xd uwu.

Virgo (Aug. 23–Sept. 22):
No comment. Your mother would not be proud.

Libra (Sept. 23–Oct. 23):
I will not stop stabbing you because I am not stabbing you. 

Scorpio (Oct. 24–Nov. 21):
STOP STABBING ME

Sagittarius (Nov. 22–Dec. 21):
Killing furries is legal on some planets. You and Kenta finally become as strong as pegasus.

Capricorn (Dec. 22–Jan. 19):
Today you earn your horns. Be on the lookout for rites of passage and chances at growth. This is the time for you to focus, Capricorn. All of your energy needs to be channeled to important goals like getting your pubes dyed, or finding out how many chicken nuggets you can forcefully shove into your disgusting gob. Maybe both.

Aquarius (Jan. 20–Feb. 18): 

There’s travel in your future when your tongue 

Freezes to the back of a speeding bus

source: weird “al” yankovic

Pisces (Feb. 19–Mar. 20): 

You’ll experience deja Vu, the feeling that this moment has already happened. Which is Deja Vu, the feeling that this moment has already happened.

So you want to be a MechE?

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You may have noticed the lack of prerequisites in the Olin curriculum. How, then, are you supposed to know when to take your MechE classes? Seeing as many of you declared a major recently, and I’m an old senior who’s seen it all, I figured I might give some general advice. Take it or leave it; not the same thing works for everyone, and not everyone would agree, but it’s a reasonable starting point if you’re planning your time. 

Additionally, the MechE curriculum, as any curriculum, is in flux, and not everything I say will be the same when you get to that particular class. Things change a lot here. 

My general recommendation, with MechE core required classes with asterisks*:

1st Year Spring:

(QEA, P&M)

Mechanical Prototyping

2nd Year Fall:

(QEA, PoE)

Take an AHS for the love of your sanity

Dynamics* (ESA?)

2nd Year Spring:

(UOCD)

Partial Differential Equations 

Mechanics of Solids and Structures*

3rd Year Fall:

Mechanical Design*

Dynamics* (ESA?)

3rd Year Spring:

MechE Depth* or Thermodynamics*

4th Year Fall:

Transport Phenomena*

4th Year Spring:

MechE Depth* or Thermodynamics*

Let’s go from the beginning then, shall we? 

I highly recommend taking Mechanical Prototyping as a first year. It is NOT a MechE requirement; however, it gets everyone to the same base understanding of SolidWorks and throws you into the prototyping world. Would highly recommend. Plus, it’s a ton of fun. However, if you already have a ton of prototyping and SolidWorks experience, consider taking SoftDes (Software Design) instead. Having basic programming skills will help use computational tools needed for mechanical engineers. No, you cannot be a MechE and avoid ever touching code. If you don’t do it, then any time when you have the space is good. I would not generally recommend taking MechProto after sophomore year, as by that time, you’ll have cobbled those skills together elsewhere.

Second year in the fall used to have QEA for 8 credits and PoE for 4, but I believe QEA might only be 4 credits second semester now. It’s important here to keep the ratio of projects to p-set/lab classes in mind. I would recommend getting your Stats class or a foundational science class in there, to shake things up, and getting started on AHS.

If you’re interested in taking FOMSO (Fundamentals of Machine Shop Operations) and learning all the tools in the machine shop, take it as soon as you can. The longer you wait, the less you can use those skills. 

I’ll be honest, I don’t know what the new Dynamics/ESA situation is like. I trust you to figure it out. Somewhere sophomore or junior year would be ideal. 

Spring second year is an important one. It’s a good time to take MechSolids (Mechanics of Solids and Structures), which is the foundation of mechanical engineering. The content is often what recruiters will ask in interviews, so I would take it sooner rather than later. If you have the space in your schedule, it’s also a great time to take Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). As someone who is taking PDEs as a senior, I very much wish I had taken it earlier, ESPECIALLY before taking Transport Phenomena. If you don’t take PDEs before Transport, then most of Transport is learning PDEs. 

Junior year, take Mechanical Design (MechDes). Everyone would get more out of it if everyone has taken MechProto beforehand, but that’s being worked out separately. 

Studying abroad in the spring junior year is pretty common. It’s very possible to plan around, just take MechDes your senior year.  

This year would also be a good time to take your Mechanical Engineering Depth class. I’ve actually taken 5 of those so far, and you get more out of them if you’ve taken MechSolids and Dynamics (ESA?) first. The specific class you take will depend on your interests. My general suggestion is to wait until one comes up that interests you during junior or senior year. 

Alternatively, take Thermodynamics (Thermo). If Transport and Thermo get offered at the same time again, don’t take them the same semester. Both of them have new and completely different concepts from the traditional structures classes, so don’t put those two in the same semester. However, Thermo is rather standalone, and can go before or after Transport, regardless of what the course website says. 

The important thing about Transport is to try to take it after learning vector calculus (in QEA) and after PDEs. 

As for Stats, Bio, and MatSci, I would sketch out your schedule with the MechE classes as the backbone and fill in with those when your semester promises to be project-heavy, as they tend to be more predictable in workload. 

Here’s the last bit of advice. Join a project team or a research group. There are some analysis skills and decision-making skills that can only be developed on a longer term project. Throw yourself into at least one. Some would argue that a MechE education is not complete without the experience that a project team gives you, especially on the analysis side. 

If you want to go over your plan with a seasoned MechE, most of us are happy to help. Feel free to email me at hkolano@olin.edu if you have questions or want to run your plan by me. 

PInterested?

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A quick update on what PInT (Olin’s Public Interest Technology* team) is up to. <3

Accessible Communication Button

This subteam of 8 has been working on a mechanical-electrical prototype for an improved Big Mack button. The Big Mack button is a communication device used by students at the Crotched Mountain School to control devices (such as a blender) and associate that action with a message. We have also been thinking deeply about our next steps and how we can potentially create greater potential for impact.

Community Rideshare Program

This subteam of 6 has co-designed and prototyped a functional platform to assist nonprofits with coordinating transportation for people with accessibility needs. In order to make this program easy for non-software engineers to use and maintain, we have coerced Google Sheets and AwesomeTable into bending to our will, via custom scripts and black magic. Up next: conducting user testing, and killing our darlings!

Human Trafficking Prevention**

This subteam of 5 wrapped up a project by turning it down, then writing an in-depth letter and delivering a presentation on why. We wanted to share how we weighed our values and made a difficult decision that could have had a significant impact on vulnerable groups of people. 

Fellowship Creation

What if you could spend one summer doing whatever you wanted to work on, to make the world better? The PInT 2020 Summer Fellowship will give three Oliners a chance to focus entirely on public interest organizations they care about, without worrying about money. The faculty selection committee is currently choosing fellows, whose entire summer will be funded (including project resources, travel and housing). They could partner with nonprofits, community-based organizations, advocacy campaigns, government offices, public institutions, foundations, environmental organizations, or any other form of public interest organization.

Space Renovations

PInT is redesigning the third floor endcap of the AC on the Lot A side to serve as a public interest technology hub on campus (not exclusive to PInT!). The space is called the PARC, which is an acronym for Participatory Action Research Collaborative, a term invented at Olin that is better than ‘Welcome to the PIT’. Currently the space is home to (free!) tea***, a kettle, modular walls to mount things on, and tons of sharpies, post-its, and expo markers. Coming soon is a board for scheduling events happening in the PARC.

Conference Preparation**

Three of our members will be flying to Austin, TX to present about PInT at the Public Interest Technology Undergraduate Informatics Education Conference. Education is the honey to our PITea, so we will be sharing why we believe student-driven learning is important for public interest work, and what unique conditions at Olin helped PInT emerge as a possibility.

*For reference, PIT = Public Interest Technology as a concept, and PInT = us, because that’s way cuter than pit :)

**Shameless plug: the videos of these presentations can be found on our facebook page!

***Yes, you heard that right. Sometimes we do deserve nice things. Just clean up after yourselves, return our mugs, and don’t be heathens.

Horoscopes by a Sober Contributor

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I hope that you all had a great February (or at least you were prepared for how February treated you). After a month spent carefully computing the locations of the planets and pretending that reading niche astrology books count as having a hobby, here are some general and sign-specific notes for the upcoming month. 

There are a few major astrological events of note this month that will affect all of the signs. 

The sun is currently in Pisces, and it will enter Aries on the 21st of the month. While Pisces season  provided some moderately uplifting energy, the combination of the Spring Equinox and the boldness associated with Aries in general promises new beginnings and opportunities at the end of the month. With that, remember that novelty requires sacrifice of previous holdings, especially those that cause harm to you. 

As you might already know, Mercury is already in retrograde, and will continue to remain in this state until March 10th. However, its worst effects (miscommunication, problems with technology, etc.) will lighten starting on March 4th, when Mercury enters Aquarius. After March 10th, your communication and technology will start to stabilize, but recall that there will be a brief period of retroshade immediately following the end of the retrograde. 

Lastly, there will be a full moon in Virgo on March 9th and a new moon in Aries on March 24th. Virgo’s meticulousness suggests that this first lunar event will give you the chance to get organized, but be sure to relax as needed. The second will give you a chance to boldly move forward. 

Here are some sign-specific notes for you all. Remember that just judging by your sun sign is not a very holistic way to read your horoscope. For some more insights, also consider your moon sign (which rules your emotions and inner self) and your rising sign (which rules the way you present to other people). If you don’t know what your moon and rising signs are, you can use an online calculator, assuming you can first find out the time you were born at. 

Aries (Mar. 21–Apr. 19): 

The sun will enter Aries in the second half of the month, offering you an opportunity to consider your individual needs and boldly push forward. Leverage the spirit of the spring equinox to take control of your time and energy and move forward accordingly. If you need to drop a project (or feel ready to pick up a new one!), now is the time to do it.

Taurus (April 20-May 20): 

Your ruling planet, Venus, enters your sign on Thursday, March 5th. With Venus in Taurus, you can feel empowered to take risks, especially in your relationships. Remember that while you may be experiencing this boost, others may not be, so stay grounded – not everyone’s reference voltage is the same as yours. 

Gemini (May 21–June 21): 

Mercury is your ruling planet. Along with going direct (exiting retrograde) on March 10th, Mercury will enter Aquarius on March 4th and then Pisces on March 16th. These changes will not create additional drama – in fact, you ought to feel more stable with each change, so feel free to take on more responsibilities.

Cancer (June 22–July 22):

Cancer, you are ruled by the moon, so this month’s lunar events are most relevant to you. There will be a full moon in Virgo early this month and a new moon in Aries towards the end of March. Take this opportunity to leverage the power in each sign – use the full moon to reflect and organize your priorities as spring break approaches, and then get ready to act as soon as it ends.  

Leo (July 23–Aug. 22): 

You will strongly feel the effects of the sun entering Aries at the end of the month. Enjoy the spirit of novelty and well-intentioned action that arrives alongside the spring equinox, especially since the Mercury retrograde will help you reconnect with your personable spirit. Stay open-minded, but also communicate what you are thinking – people will listen. 

Virgo (Aug. 23–Sept. 22): 

There is a full moon in your sign this month – this is a great opportunity to take personal risks and manifest your goals. Enjoy the confidence boost and the outcomes of your hard work – projects you start now may pan out nicely in the future. 

Libra (Sept. 23–Oct. 23): 

Libra, you are ruled by Venus. Venus will be in Taurus for most of the month, which will bring additional energy (and potentially also drama) to your relationships. Enjoy this, but be sure to take time for yourself and set (and stick with) your personal limits. There’s nothing wrong with taking an evening off of your usual responsibilities and spending some time alone.

Scorpio (Oct. 24–Nov. 21):

The combination of the Mercury retrograde and the full moon in Virgo has left you especially reflective, likely to the point where it is causing more stress than it is benefitting you. While this will plague you for most of the month, try to leverage the new moon and the transition of the sun into Aries as a chance to start over – sometimes it’s better to embrace the deltas instead of just listing them out and moving on. 

Sagittarius (Nov. 22–Dec. 21): 

Both you and Pisces are ruled by Jupiter, so you may feel some of the side effects of the end of Pisces season and the movement of Mercury into Pisces on March 16th. Enjoy this chance to embrace your own individuality and personal spirit, but be sure to check yourself before you get too far ahead of yourself. 

Capricorn (Dec. 22–Jan. 19): 

Your ruling planet, Saturn, enters Aquarius on Sunday, March 22nd. This eccentricity may conflict with your essentially pragmatic nature, but give yourself a chance to try to grow as a person – learning opportunities are everywhere, even if they look like a waste of time. 

Aquarius (Jan. 20–Feb. 18):

Mercury will move into Aquarius on March 4th, giving you an opportunity to bring some of your logic and rationality to the otherwise confusing season. Furthermore, you will also see improved communication with those around you, and this also ought to manifest in smoother travel plans and engineering projects. Enjoy the season, Aquarius, but be careful about overcommitting – things will not always be like this. 

Pisces (Feb. 19–Mar. 20): 

Pisces, the sun exits your sign towards the end of the month. Enjoy the rest of Pisces season, and remember that even though Mercury is in retrograde, you have total control over your sense of self. Your own power will feel especially relevant after March 16th, when Mercury enters Pisces. This is your time – use it to plan and reflect, and get ready to act boldly when the sun enters Aries at the end of the month.

Thank You, Callan

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At Olin, we expect the library to be almost everything: a social gathering space, a repository for traditional knowledge, a universal directory for non-traditional knowledge, a collection of institutional memory and history, a co-working space for all, a classroom, a collection of tools, an audio/video production studio, offices for a few faculty members, a configurable event space, a host for SLAC, an open provider of all these services to the public, and more. Over the past few months, we’re struck by the fact that the library has handled all those tasks and more.

In her time in the library, Callan has reorganized and improved the layout. The structure and navigation of the library is now clear, thanks to the map at the front and consistent signage. The camera/audio equipment upstairs has been completely rearranged to somehow fit more digital tools in a smaller space—and now, the labels are clear. The checkout booth has gained a collection of clearly labeled cables for open use. The library now includes a range of book displays from diverse viewpoints and backgrounds.

The workspace downstairs is more open and accessible and has a functional checkout booth. The tools have been reorganized with a new, clearer arrangement and a system for keeping track of them. Tools that have been broken for the past year have now been replaced or repaired. The workroom has a clear sticky-note system for designating how long objects can remain there. And now, there’s actually room to store projects and supplies, because the space has been thoroughly cleaned and organized! Each closet and box has clear labels, and supplies that never got used have been migrated out.

Over the next 20 years, we’re excited to see how the library continues to develop. There’s always room to improve, and we look forward to seeing how the space evolves. For many of us, the library is the place we spend the most time in outside of our rooms, and it deserves the level of care and value that Callan has brought to it. We’re excited to see what future refinements, redesigns and renovations bring to Olin.

The Olin community owes Callan a great debt for taking on our already-beloved library, reaching out to understand how the community uses it, and improving it in the ways we needed. It would be easy for a new Director of the Library, an entire department at Olin, to sit still and allow the library to exist as-is. Instead, Callan has acted as caretaker and innovator at once, and has brought the Olin community into that process. More than simply “handling tasks,” the library has been cared for with tangible love, enthusiasm, and informed insight in a way that makes it a joy to work in. Her work as Director of the Library is an example for the path we hope Olin will take as we all consider the future of our college.

We thank you, Callan.

We also thank the librarians and student workers who support the library and workroom, including Maggie Anderson, Mckenzie Mullen, Reid Bowen, Vienna Scheyer, and Naomi Chiu.

Signed,

Sam Daitzman, Gail Romer, Luke Milroy, Diego Alvarez, Nabih Estefan, Olivia Jo Bradley, Caitlin Coffey, Nolan Flynn, Abby Fry, Riya Aggarwal, Reid Bowen, Marion Madanguit, Maggie Rosner, Corey Cochran-Lepiz, Jack Greenberg, Karen Hinh, Katie Thai-Tang, Eric Jacobsen, Tommy Weir, Brandon Zhang, Jules Brettle, Annie Tor, Sander Miller, Riley Zito, Dieter Brehm, Maalvika Bhat, Dylan Merzenich

Please Vote

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If you are planning on voting for not-Trump in this year’s presidential election, you need to register to vote in the upcoming primaries (and they’re coming up fast) to have your say in the sort of president you want to have. A friendly but urgent reminder that several members of our community have graciously volunteered to help you (shoutout to Anusha, Abby, and Tommy) if you are unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or feeling otherwise uncertain about this process. Check your inboxes for a form to help you get started (1/13, from Anusha), and look out for SLAC sessions! I’m also willing to help you out – just let me know. Register for that absentee ballot! Or if you’re from Massachusetts, mark your calendars if you haven’t already. February 12th is the voter registration deadline, and March 3 is Super Tuesday, aka Voting Day. 

I am also here to remind you that it is your Honor Code-bound duty to Do Something. We all signed this document, vowing to uphold it in our time here and beyond. We all agreed to strive to better ourselves and our community and take responsibility for our own behavior. If you have been disappointed, distraught, disillusioned, terrified, paralyzed, gutted, or otherwise by the words and actions of our sitting president; by the non-stop headlines denoting some fresh violation of a nation’s integrity, of a citizen’s pride; by the atrocities committed at our nation’s border; by not only the ignorance of climate change but outright denial of it; by the utter disregard for truth, unabashed shamelessness, and gleeful erasure of culpability — now, NOW is the time to do something. 

I will remind you that the privilege of democracy relies on its constituent members speaking up; that the power of a collected, concerted effort is greater than that of any individual, and that now is the time to do something.

I will remind you that families are being torn apart. I will remind you that American troops have been sent to Iran following our assassination of one of their military leaders. I will remind you that the sea levels are rising and that Australia is burning, that Puerto Rico is still recovering from Hurricane Maria, that more storms are on the way. I will remind you that we had 417 mass shootings last year. And these are only the headlines. I am begging you to do something. 

I am fully aware that it is too much. This is too much. As I type, I have the Senate Impeachment trial audio in the background, listening as Trump’s defense actively deflects and distracts from the message of previous hearings and testimonies, as they construct an alternative fiction to live in. I, too, would love to live in a world where our president has done no wrong, but given the facts before me, that would be a choice of willful ignorance. I am reminded of the closing lines of Ash Sanders’s essay, Under the Weather : that when the world is ending, our health depends on closing ourselves off to the awareness of this fact. I’ve closed the video. It’s too much. Senate is not going to put a stop to this. I don’t know how else to ask you. Please vote. 

And now, after that thoroughly depressing onslaught of appealing to your moral sensibilities, I am here to remind you that voting in this primary is an act of hope and possibility, not one that stems purely from desperation, and should be treated as such. It is the opportunity to choose a candidate that best represents your beliefs whom you could be proud to vote for. Who represents an idea of an America that you would like to live in? Who stands for the same issues that you stand for? We will never be able to erase the events of the Trump presidency, nor should we. But we can certainly put an end to them. We can learn and change and do something about the things that did not work, that are not working. This is the opportunity to vote for a representative who will be a champion of that vision. 

I am voting for Senator Bernie Sanders in this upcoming primary. 

I believe that he believes in the people of the United States: he stands (and has stood) for the rights and opportunities of those who have been disadvantaged and treated unjustly by our society. The titles of his stances and policies– a welcoming and safe America for all, Medicare for All, College for All– indicate to me that he believes in giving each and every American a shot at their American dream. He does not work just for himself, not just for those who are uninhibited by existing structures, who already have the privilege to do so. He speaks to work for us all.

He is a vocal supporter of the Green New Deal and is the only candidate I have seen that has treated climate change as a serious issue both on the campaign trail and through his votes in the Senate. I believe that Senator Sanders will support legislation brought up through our Congress that empowers the people and aims to reduce the disparities of justice in our country. Senator Sanders has given me every reason to believe this is the case: in 5 decades of public service, of standing in picket lines, in standing up to the most powerful without flinching to represent the people, he has championed a consistent message, even when the message was unpopular. He will stand up for you even when nobody else shows up, as he did in 1991, warning about continuous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. My point is, he is here to support the people because he believes in us.

And of course, ideology is great and all, but these must be carried out into concrete policy. Senator Sanders has:

  •  provided 9 million more Americans with primary health care, 2 million more with dental care, and 860,000 more with mental health services
  • Raised the wages of 350,000 Amazon workers to at least $15 an hour
  • Restored $320 million in pension benefits to 130,000 IBM workers
  • Passed veterans legislation with John McCain providing $5 billion to hire more doctors and nurses at the VA
  • Passed the first and only audit of the Federal Reserve in 2010
  • Passed the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act
  • Passed $3.2 billion in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy grants
  • Prohibited the importation of goods made by forced or indentured child labor

Just to name a few. 

Senator Sanders is electable. Many have stated they like Senator Sanders but are unsure of his electability: meaning they are unsure if other people would be willing to vote for him. These primaries are the time to show that he IS electable; that people ARE willing to vote for him. If there is anything to “win”, we win by playing to win, not by playing not-to-lose. If you believe that Senator Sanders is a strong representative of your beliefs, play to win. 

I’m happy to talk with you more about this decision if you’d like to know more, or if you’d like to tell me I’m an idealistic dum-dum, or anything in between or beyond. But the most important thing to me is that you do not miss your opportunity to have your voice heard in the arena where it will certainly make a difference. Please vote. 

Babson, Free Speech, and Overblown Outrage

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I had originally planned to write a brief rant about how all the remaining top contenders of the Democratic primary are white (because hey, what the fuck is up with that?), but I recently learned about something a bit more close to home that I wanted to talk about.

In early January of this year, Asheen Phansey, an adjunct professor at Babson college posted a joke on his personal Facebook page. It was, in its entirety, as follows: “In retaliation, Ayatollah Khomenei should tweet a list of 52 sites of beloved American cultural heritage that he would bomb. Um… Mall of America? …Kardashian Residence?”

It’s not a good joke, but quickly a local blog picked it up with the exaggerated headline: “Babson Professor Urges Iran to Bomb 52 American Cultural Sites to Own the Trumpsters”. The article says, “Begging a religious lunatic who oppresses women and gay people to blow up American cultural sites is sadly par for the course for your run of the mill college professor in 2020.” This soon found its way to Twitter where the professor was described as an “America-hating terrorist supporter” and others said he should be deported. He has US citizenship by birthright. People were encouraged to call Babson to complain. 

Within 48 hours, Babson opened a formal investigation and condemned “threatening words and/or actions condoning violence and/or hate”. The professor was suspended without pay, and when the investigation was concluded, just one day later, he was fired. 

I personally disagree with the decision made by the Babson administration, and I’d like to explain why. First, two disclaimers: This was not a good joke, it wasn’t very tasteful, I will not defend it. Also, I am not questioning the legality of Babson’s action. As a private institution, they are not bound by the First Amendment. However, I believe that the firing of Phansey is a gross overreaction that damages the very important culture of freedom of expression at Babson and in higher education in general. 

Babson has stated commitments to academic freedom and freedom of expression, and historically they have stood by them even in controversial situations. It is a betrayal of these principles to now so hastily fire a professor over a poor joke on Facebook. Phansey apologized and removed the post, but to no avail. PEN America, a free speech advocacy group, put it well: “If professors face such extreme consequences for comments that contain sarcasm, humor, exaggeration, or irony on social media, it will perpetuate self-censorship and a culture where honest discourse is paralyzed. College leaders must not rush into formal investigations and decide on severe repercussions in response to speech that contains no nexus to a professor’s role and no clear indication of violent intent.” PEN America also released an open letter calling for Babson to reverse the decision signed by a number of groups and individuals, including the American Federation of Teachers, AFL CIO, and the ACLU of Massachusetts. 

There is also some weirdness going on where Babson claimed to be “cooperating with local, state, and federal authorities,” when in fact there was no criminal investigation, and they had simply emailed the Wellesley police to warn of a potential social media firestorm. This brings us to a different broader point about how institutions deal with social media outrage. This incident was nothing until it began circulating among conservative social media circles, and Babson’s response can be read as an attempt to head off negative social media coverage. 

It’s worth stopping here to remember that social media is not real life. Conservative twitter is not real life. Liberal twitter is not real life. Online outrage is not always without valid cause or purpose, but it must be handled tactfully and thoughtfully. In their haste to respond to social media, Babson made a bad decision, and I hope they will reconsider it. 

P&M

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I was a P&M ninja last year because I thought the class lends itself to really exciting and different types of projects that you have a good amount of control over. I don’t have time in my semester this year to be a ninja, but I’d like to remind the Olin Community about cool projects students have done in past years through Frankly Speaking.

Here are 6 projects that were submitted via the form I sent out on the CarpeDiem and HelpMe mailing list. 

Project/year: CAD Buddy (2018)
Person/part of team?: Nathan Estill (yes)
What was exciting? We got invited to Solidworks to pitch the idea and talk about it.
What did you learn? I think I learned about how many product decisions are dictated by the past standards that have been set and how many older customers are the bulk of user groups.

Project/year: The Investigators (2019)
Person/part of team?: Anonymous (yes)
What was exciting? It kept people talking, interacted with the whole community, solved a problem help me couldn’t solve.

What did you learn? To pick a good team.

Project/year: Button/pins. Included the Mark Pins (2018)
Person/part of team?: Anonymous (2019)
What was exciting? This project was the start of pride pins made for OPEN  (because we were marketing towards Wellesley students lol). I also got paid $5 for a Mark Pin by Caitrin Lynch.
What did you learn? How to use the button maker in the library and that memes are profitable. 

Project/year: <info.olin.build> (2018)
Person/part of team?: Kyle Emmi (yes)
What was exciting? I had come up with the idea during an in-class brainstorming session and watched it grow as I added more and more post-it notes with different features and information that should be included. This was in the beginning of the class so when I finally pursued the idea in the final project, I was able to see my original idea change shape into a final and very usable product.
What did you learn? That a group of highly motivated people with a good skill set can get a lot done in a very very short amount of time with the right idea.

Project/year: Disposable Cup usage at Olin (2018)
Person/part of team?: Corey Cochran-Lepiz (yes)
What was exciting? I got to chat with the kitchen staff and know more about the campus usage of disposable cups directly from the source. We also got to hear about previous systems they have experimented with which gave our project a jump start into brainstorming new ideas that they haven’t tried yet with their blessing to conduct our own experiments.
What did you learn? I learned that the DH ran through a couple thousand(?) disposable cups a week and that previously they tried a system where they gave people reusable cups to use but despite that people still preferred the disposable ones. (And more often than not they would toss it into the trash can which renders the compostable aspect moot)

Other comments: I had a lot of fun in this project and even extended it to my final where we spoke with coffee shops about the issue.

Project/year: Poptalks! (2018) Our final value proposition was to “encourage meaningful discussion within the Olin community by organizing and lightly facilitating conversation surrounding topics that are usually avoided.” After getting formed in P&M, PopTalks grew into a club that has been around for 3 semesters and counting.
Person/part of team?: David Freeman (yes)
What was exciting? We used this project to carve out a little space in Olin where we could engage with our community in a way that felt really good and nourishing.
What did you learn? I learned that I have permission to shape projects into what resonates with me. There can be a balance between stretching myself in learning and staying true to where my heart is, and this P&M project was my first opportunity to discover how meaningful it can be to follow my heart in Olin projects.

Project/year: Waffle Food Cart (2018)
Person/part of team?: Jordan Crawford-O’Banner (no)
What was exciting? It seemed like they did a lot of good work and testing.
What did you learn? I thought it was an interesting look into what is important for restaurants to be successful.

Project/year: <info.olin.build> (2018) a website to help people navigate stuff on Olin
Person/part of team?: Anonymous (no)
What was exciting? It helped me, as a user. I still use it even now.
What did you learn? I learned that a static Olin-centered P&M project can make a difference.

Project/year: A concert finding app (2017)
Person/part of team?:  Allison Basore (yes)
What was exciting? We got a lot of interest from our user group. Ultimately, the idea itself was not that exciting, but the concept that we could build something that people wanted was very exciting.  
What did you learn? Besides learning how to talk to strangers for the first time, I learned how to identify value in an idea. 

My Riding Stables: Life with Horses (Review)

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I am not a gamer girl. I play farming simulators and that’s about it. 

I grew up playing Farmville (Zenya) before smartphones allowed you to check on your crops. I was in a Facebook group with mostly old people where people shared extra animals. I was friends with my classmates’ parents not my classmates. 

Over the summer I started playing Stardew Valley (Eric Barone) on PC which I will maybe write a review on later (I have strong feelings on it after sharing it with unappreciative friends). To this day I’ve logged 100+ hours on it.

But last semester, I needed something to look forward to at the end of finals. So I split a Switch Game with Mark Goldwater ‘21 as a joke during Cyber Monday sales.

I saw this game and I was like, “Haha, it would be so funny if we bought this.” So we did and it was. 

Let me be clear: you would play this game as you would watch a bad movie. It was made in Unity originally for PS2. Anupama Krishnan ‘20, said she played it as a kid and nothing has changed since then. The graphics prove this isn’t a lie.

The gist of the game is that you bought a rundown horse stable, and you need to bring it back to its former glory. So you buy some horses (you also get to customize your first one), feed them, clean them, clean their hooves, fix their health, massage them, and ride them. There are nine races you have to win.

You have to make money to upgrade your place and maintain your horses. To do this you originally have enough money to buy a horse track where you train other people’s horses so they follow directions (more on this later). 

You can then save up to buy the following: a massage parlor, a breeding stable, and a guest house. In the massage parlor, (which is the most efficient way to make money) you massage horses. In the breeding stable, you pair one of your horses with a stud and instantly produce a horse for a client. Lastly, the guest house can be upgraded to host up to 9 guests which stand in front of your house waiting for you to check in (see bullet 9 on the following list).

It’s a terrible game in a few ways:

1 Your person can’t turn, and thus you must do multi step turns or walk backwards.

2 There isn’t really an explanation of the controls. (Two examples are: turning your horse in races and completing a massage.)

3 You can only have 6 horses at a time.

4 In the track you own, the horses don’t have a turn animation and it’s scary.

5 When you clean their hooves, the hoof will just go away and come at you in the screen which is alarming as well.

6 Everytime you feed your horse, it scoots you to the right as you dab.

7 You can only buy a certain quantity of items at a time. (ie 10 supplements)

8 The only way you learn what you should be doing is because you realize things are going really bad.

9 This guests just check out your horses without warning and return them to you filthy as heck.

10 The quality of your stable is based on how many races you’ve completed, but you can only complete one race a week. 

Which brings me to the fact that I’ve put more hours into this game than I’d like to admit because I still have to feed and clean my horses every day. 

If you’d like to try it, here are some tips when you start playing. 

A Live with the multistep turns and get good at walking backwards or you will waste your in game time.

B Do not feed your horses hay. Feed them either Barley & Oats or Pellets (Pellets preferred).

C When you feed them, feed them once without supplements and once with supplements. (This is how you make sure they have energy and heath)

D Do not skip the first Sunday of races, practice with your horse (the same one over and over for the week) starting Thursday. 

E Only check in guests Mon-Wed so they don’t take the horse you’re trying to race with.

F You check on your horses’ stats with the RZ button. If they have more than have health just groom/hose them down. Checking if they’re hooves are clean wastes your in game time. This is good for checking their health as well.

G Aim for the Three Gold Hooves, this gives you points (you can only buy certain things with points). 

H The Three Gold Hooves come from grooming (not hosing), cleaning their hooves, and massaging them (without a saddle) at the parlor. 

I To massage at the parlor, when you get the horse press A. Look at the yellow circle with green arrows. If an arrow turns off, move the brush that way. Click again. I recommend just looking at that compass (sometimes the fastest massage is when the brush isn’t touching the horse). 

J Enjoy the game, it’s pretty fun. 

Overall, I’d like to say that if the game didn’t have bad handling and controls it would be pretty boring. The horses are cute and you get to Dress Them Up with flowers in their hair. You also get to buy some cute outfits. 

Anyways, if you have any questions please reach out to me. Mark (he’s a bystander) and I sometimes play it in the EH2AL.